Cover Story
Rayma Williams, a volunteer at the Palo Alto Animal Services Center, moves a cat up for adoption from its cage to a play area. In 2011, the shelter returned 20 percent of the cats it received to their owners, surpassing its target of 8 percent.
Passionate Palo Alto residents rally to protect animal services from outsourcing Story by Gennady Sheyner. Photographs by Veronica Weber.
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hey arrived en masse, wielding signs, wearing buttons and clutching letters and petitions. Some brought their children; at least one brought a puppy. By the time the four members of Palo Alto City Council’s Policy and Services Committee began their deliberation in front of the standing-room-only crowd, it was clear to everyone in the Council Chambers that this would not be your run-of-the-mill budget hearing. When it comes to animals in Palo Alto, emotions run high. The group of protesters, which included more than 100 residents, animal advocates and shelter volunteers, flocked to the May 10 meeting to speak out against a proposal by City Manager James Keene’s office to close the animal shelter on East Bayshore Road and outsource animal services to an-
other agency — a move that would save the city about $500,000 annually. About two dozen lined up to address the council, voicing a singular message: Closing the shelter would be a disaster for the city. Many expressed shock that the possibility was even under consideration. Elena Kogan said she found it hard to fathom that one of the most affluent parts of the state — a region that boasts some of the world’s richest companies and nation’s priciest real estate — is struggling to keep a 5,400-squarefoot animal shelter open. “It’s unbelievable that we’re about to betray the most vulnerable life forms that are living among us, that are inherently dependent on us and that are a part of all of our lives in one way or another — even if you’re not a pet owner,� Kogan said.
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Scottie Zimmerman, one of the shelter’s roughly 50 volunteers, recently gathered signatures on a petition to keep the shelter open. She told the council committee about the community’s unspoken but unwavering support for animal services. At last month’s May FĂŞte parade, she approached a young man standing near a truck on a shaded street. She asked him if he’d be interested in joining the group’s effort by signing the petition. “He handed me a fistful of money and took the thing and signed it. I found out later it was $100 in cash,â€? Zimmerman said. “The next day I was collecting signatures and a nice woman wrote me a check for $100. I didn’t ask for this.â€? Among the speakers was Carole Hyde, executive director of the Palo Alto Humane Society,
who criticized outsourcing as a “radical departure� from the city’s long-standing principle of “safe community.� Under this principle, stray animals are picked up “immediately before they’re injured and killed and returned safely to their owners.� “Animals entrusted to the city rely for the lives and well-being on good and wise policies,� Hyde said. “The Humane Society does not believe that trucking animals out of the area to crowded facilities and uncertain fates constitutes good and caring stewardship.� But Hyde was not just voicing an opinion; she came with a plan. Since March 30, when Assistant City Manager Pam Antil shocked the animal community with the staff’s recommendations, the Humane Society has been crafting its
own proposal for raising revenues, cutting costs and preserving the local shelter. The proposal calls for elimination of 4.2 full-time positions, including the shelter’s supervisor, two animal-control officers and an animal-services specialist. The part-time volunteer coordinator position would be reduced by 25 percent, bringing the total savings from staff cuts to $430,000. The proposal also includes raising revenues by $410,000 by increasing licensing fees, offering vaccinations on Saturdays and doubling the output from the spay/neuter clinic. The group also proposed establishing a task force to consider long-term solutions for animal services, a suggestion that council members quickly accepted. Hyde’s plan — and the ani-